


Jelly According To Hoyle

by bikelock28



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode: s06e08 Let's Kill Hitler, Family, Gen, Young Amelia Pond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-11
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-07-29 11:55:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16263701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bikelock28/pseuds/bikelock28
Summary: The first time Amelia Pond hugged her daughter they were both eight years old. [3 one-shots].





	1. 1997

**Author's Note:**

> This is a short fic of three one-shots based on the snapshots of Amy, Rory and Mels growing up at the start of Let's Kill Hitler, and on the quote below from Rise of the Cybermen. I hope you enjoy.

 

* * *

The first time Amelia Pond hugged her daughter they were both eight years old.

It was May half-term and they were playing in the woods behind the churchyard. Mels had only been living in Leadworth since the Autumn. She'd moved in to Leadworth Children's Home, started school in Yellow Class and immediately caught Amelia's attention. Well, Mels had caught everybody's attention that first day, because she had climbed onto the school roof and rapped  _Big Poppa_ at the top of her lungs.

Rory hadn't been able to take his eyes off her. "She's  _insane,"_ he marvelled from the concrete below, "Right Amy?"

"Yeah," Amy breathed, "Yeah, she _is,"_

Mels continued to make a spectacle of herself those first few weeks. She was clever, no doubt about that. Miss Talbot, the class teacher, was often bemused by Mels' mental maths skills, memory and reading speed. But more often than not she was exasperated by Mels' headstrong nature and her love of answering back, and downright angry at her constant rule-breaking. Leadworth Primary had a few kids from the children's home and they could be trouble, but Mels Zucker was another level. She shouted and ran in the corridors, she doodled guns on desks, she leapt off the top of the climbing-frame in the playground (miraculously, Mels would always land on her feet, but when the other kids tried to copy her there were a couple of incidents in A&E).

Amy, Rory and their friends observed her carefully. It was only a year and a half since Amelia herself had been the new girl, so she would have been happy to befriend Mels. But Mels was so unpredictable and impressive that everybody felt too threatened to wander over at lunchtime and ask her to play tag. Amy pride herself on being Big Trouble, but the trouble Mels got into made Amelia's stealing pencils and playing kiss-chase even after it was banned look tame. Besides, Mels herself didn't seem to care about wanting friends. An audience yes, friends no. And audiences she got. Even the Year Six classes would watch as Mels scaled the school fence or ate worms for a dare. The younger years saw her as a mythical creature, fallen from the sky to perform for them. When Mels broke into the PE cupboard to take out the crash-mats and hula-hoops during Wet Play, fifty kids gathered to watch. Amy was perplexed and fascinated by Mels, although as the term rolled on she began to become grateful for her. For months the school gossip had been about Amelia, her "imaginary" friend and the therapist she'd been sent to. Nobody had teased Amy about it outright, but whispers had followed her around school; "My mum heard Amelia's been sent to the nut-house". "Imaginary friend? Come on, we're not in Nursery". "Scottish, see? They're all weird". Mels and the chaos she'd brought had distracted everyone from Amelia Pond The Loony.

After the Christmas holiday Miss Talbot changed the Literacy groups in Yellow Class. Amelia's new seat was beside Mels. It was with trepidation that Amy sat down beside the dark-haired girl and got her pencil-case out, but Mels was eager to chat.

"Hi Amy. How was your Christmas?"

"Umm, it was nice, thank you," Amy replied carefully, "I got a new art set, and a book of Greek myths,"

"Cool," Mels chirped, "I got some new trainers and  _Mission Impossible_ on video. Have you seen it?"

"No,"

"You'll love it. It's about this handsome secret agent, and he has to-"

"Melody, Amy, stop chatting," Miss Clarke reprimanded.

"-go on the run from the baddies, and then-"

"Mels, it is the first day of the New Year, maybe you'd like make life easy for me," Miss Talbot sighed

"You've had three weeks to take it easy," Mels protested.

Once she had given up arguing with Mels, Miss Talbot set the class a task to write about their Christmas holiday.

"Remember kids- wow words, similes, and a variety of punctuation. You've got half an hour and I'll be coming round to chat to you about your holiday reading,"

_During my Christmas holiday I went to Scotland with my Auntie. She thought I might have been missing it. I am missing it. Auntie thinks that I believe in the Raggedy Doctor because I missed Scotland but it isn't true. Inverness was very cold. We went ice-skating on the Loch. We went to Edinburgh cathedral. Auntie Sharon liked carols. Auntie pretended that Santa came on Christmas Eve. Santa isn't real. There's a funner man in the sky. His name is the Doctor and he lives in a blue box. He dresses very scruffy. He hates apples and loves fishfingers and custard. Some people believe in Santa and some believe in Jesus, but they are not real. I believe in the Doctor and he is real. On Boxing Day we ate turkey sandwiches and went to the cinema and watched 101 Dalmatians. I like Dalmatians but not as much as poodles._

Amelia looked up and glanced across at Mels' work. Mels was writing very quickly, she'd already written twice as much as Amy. Amy couldn't read all of Mels' work because Mels' hand was speeding across the page, but Amelia could make out the words, "Indonesia" "Concorde" "pony" and "Prince Harry".

"Did that really happen?" she asked.

"Not telling," Mels shrugged, not looking up.

Amy wasn't sure how to respond, so she did what she usually did when she didn't know what to say- taunt. "I bet it didn't".

Mels huffed theatrically and said, "What does yours say, then?"

Amy shoved her book over. Mels glanced at it and, far quicker than Amy could have absorbed any of the information for herself, asked, "The Doctor?"

* * *

Mels never called Amy mad. This was partly, Amelia knew, because Mels had only met her after the Raggedy Doctor's visit, so she never had a pre-Doctor Amy to compare to. She bought Amy's Doctor story completely, and by the end of that Literacy lesson was nagging Amy to tell her more about the Raggedy Doctor. Amy had had months of anybody she told about the Doctor insisting that she was making it up, so she wasn't sure how to respond to Mels' questions. "Does he look scary?". "Did you get to go inside the box?". "Do you think he's a baddie?". By the end of the day Mels had pumped as many answers as she could out of Amy. By Wednesday lunchtime they were playing knock-down-ginger on the staffroom door together. By home-time on Friday they were best friends. Rory and the others were rather startled by Amelia's sudden partnership with intelligent, intimidating, erratic Mels, but after that first week in January the two became inseparable, and trouble after adventure after scrape followed, and detention after detention after detention. For the first time in her life, Amy was the tame one, drawing boundaries and wondering aloud, "Isn't that a bit  _too_ dangerous?". This was all a bit of a novelty after years of being the rule-breaker, leaving the fretting and boundary-drawing to kids like Rory. But being friends Mels Zucker made a sabre tooth tiger look timid in comparison. Sometimes Amelia would find herself telling Mels off, rolling her eyes at her cheekiness or muttering, "Just wait a sec, okay?". Mels would shoot her a funny kind of smile-smirk and tear off, leaving Amy to dash after her calling, "I said wait!".

Mels always called Amy "Amy". Ever since the Doctor had left and never come back, Amy had been trying to ditch the name he'd marvelled as "fairytale". It was proving a difficult task though, having introduced herself to everybody as Amelia months prior. But Mels called her "Amy" straight away. She loved to talk to Amy about the Doctor, look at her drawings and make Rory dress up as him- but equally she was always thrilled to join in when Amy was cross with the Doctor for leaving and not coming back. Mels knew all sorts of rude words to call the Doctor. That always cheered Amy up when she was angry at him, or angry at everybody else for not believing in him. Mels was good at cheering Amy up- her stories, her funny turns-of-phrase, her silly ideas could always make Amy smile when she was having a bad day.

When Amy and Mels weren't up to trouble or in detention or playing Raggedy Doctor, they were ordinary eight-year-old girls. They made up dances in the playground; they played with skipping ropes; they talked about what would happen next on  _Grange Hill_. Amy and Mels both thought Disney films were boring and wet ("Too fairytale," sniffed Amy), but they loved  _Goonies, ET, Home Alone_. Amy stole the video of  _Stand By Me_  from her Aunt, and they'd become briefly obsessed with wandering through the woods. That's what they were doing that day in May half-term. They'd taken a packed lunch each, a cricket bat and a football, and set off to find adventure. The Leadworth woods weren't as large or mysterious as the ones in the  _Stand By Me_ , but Amy was sure that there must be at least  _some_ wolves in them. Mels was hoping for a corpse. The Leadworth woods had been disappointing on both accounts, so Mels and Amy had ended up down by the beck, whacking nettles with sticks.

"I'm  _bored,"_ Mels complained, "Let's climb trees,"

Amelia was good at climbing trees. Being tall helped and being fearless helped more. "But they're all too tall here," she pointed out. The trees in the wood were oaks, and the branches didn't start until at least eight feet off the ground. Amy was tall and Mels could jump very high, but not  _that_ high. They tried giggling, for a few minutes, before giving up.

"Hide and seek?" Amy suggested.

"Does that work with two people?"

"Yeah," Amy guessed, "Dibs hiding first,"

"Bagsy hiding first," Mels crowed at the same time.

"Dibs-bagsy-shotgun,"

"Dibs-bagsy-shotgun-halibut, turn around touch the ground, kick your boyfriend out of town!" Mels rattled off, spinning, tapping the floor and kicking the air, "Ha, I win,"

Amy glared at her.

"I wouldn't  _really_ kick Rory out of town," Mels couldn't resist adding.

"Urgh! Rory's not my boyfriend," Amy said with a shudder.

"He wants to be. He  _loooves_  you, he wants to _kiss_  you,"

"Don't be daft," said Amy, blushing, "I thought you were supposed to be hiding? One, two, three-"

Mels shut up sharpish and ran off.

"...seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty. Ready or not, here I come!"

Amy opened her eyes, blinking into the light. The woods seemed oddly bright and quiet now that she was alone. Being an experienced hide-and-seek-er, her first through was that Mels might have been sneaky and hid on the other side of the tree Amy had been counting against. That was an old trick. Amelia peered round the side of the tree. No Mels. The other side. No Mels. She scurried down the bank of the beck, searching for Mels behind the boulders. They were only small ones, more rocks than boulders, but big enough for Mels to have hidden behind. But she wasn't there. The water dribbled down and birds chirped in the trees above. Amy liked the woods like this, when they were quiet and mysterious. A few months ago she'd been playing down here with Rory and he'd agreed, adding dreamily, "It's like you could find faeries here..."

"No," Amy had answered fiercely, "Faeries aren't real. Fairytales are rubbish. This is where you'd find tigers or bears".

Back at the beck, Amelia wasn't having much luck searching for Mels. The obvious hiding places were all behind trees, but Amy had looked behind loads of them now and hadn't found any sign on her. Perhaps she'd run further away. But which direction? Maybe the way they'd come, that's make-

Amy's thoughts were interrupted by loud footsteps and the flapping of leaves.

"Amy? Amy, are you there?" It was Mels' voice, but in a high, panicky tony Amy head never heard her use before.

"Yeah. Where are you?"

"I got stuck, I- " the voice panted, and there was Mels, appearing out of the bracken with a crash and racing towards Amy.

"Mels?"

"Oh thank  _God,_ Amy, there you are,"

"You're supposed to be hiding,"

"I  _was._  I found this really good hiding-place, I climbed up this tree and there was a hole in the side I hid in, but it was dark and cramped, and you didn't come and..." Mels gabbIed, tailed off, then said in a mumble, "I got scared. I don't like small spaces. I felt trapped,"

She sprinted the last few feet up to Amy, and threw her arms around her. Sensation slammed into Amy's body. She'd fallen off the vault straight on to the hall floor on PE last a few weeks ago- this was like that. Like a big hall floor of feeling had whacked into her. Amy ejaculated a yelp of surprise. Her stomach squirmed and her skin felt itchy and fuzzy. Mel's touch felt strange; tense and cold. Her whole body was suddenly fizzing with pulsing with sensation, her heart beating double-time. Mels looked up into Amy's face. Her expression was quizzical, but also glowing with something else Amy didn't know the name for.

"What?" she asked.

Amy could see her own arm over Mels' shoulder. It was spattered with good pimples. Her throat felt clogged, as if she'd been crying, and she wasn't sure she'd be able to speak, "I, um, I...there's a stone in my shoe," answered hoarsely, "Just stepped on it". Even if she had wanted to tell Mels, here was no way she could verbalise whatever this sensation was. She changed the subject, "What happened?"

Mels abruptly let go of Amy, who felt breath gush out of her. Was it relief? She didn't know.

"I _told_  you," Mels replied. Her panic had evaporated, replaced by the usual bravado. "I was hiding in a hole and I got stuck. I don't like small places". She stuck out her chin in a way which taunted:  _So what?_   _I'll smack you one if you tease me._ Amy hardly noticed; she was distracted by rubbing her arm to make the goose bumps flatten down.

"Did you get a nettle-sting?" Mels asked.

"Err...yeah," agreed absently.

"I think you're meant to wee on nettle-stings," Mels supplied.

"Isn't that jellyfish stings?"

"Oh. Well, alright then. Did you find a dock-leaf?"

"Yeah," Amy muttered. The buzzing feeling was fading, but her heart and stomach still felt full and clenched. The sensation itself was uncomfortable, but more uncomfortable was the  _rightness_ of the feeling. Like jigsaw pieces has slotted together, and even though Amelia couldn't see the whole picture, she knew that it was the right placement. That sense of, well, of making sense was the most uncomfortable and frightening thing of all.


	2. 2003

Fourteen years old. They were in secondary school now, a twenty-minute bus ride away from Leadworth. There were eight hundred pupils at school, and seven hundred and eighty-five of them were white. Mels was one of the fifteen others and extremely proud of it. She changed her hair every week- sometimes loose, sometimes braided, sometimes cornrows, and frequently multi-coloured weaves. The latter often got her into trouble. There were a lot of things which got Mels into trouble. Unleashed on a large secondary school, Mels' mouth was bigger, her schemes grander, her skirt more outrageously short. High school buildings were much more fun to climb than primary school ones, and there were so many more teachers to wind up, flirt with, or bunk off from. Mels was still excelling in the lessons she chose to turn up to, and was sitting her Maths, ICT and Core Science GCSEs a year early. She was curvy and buxom which made Amy was green with envy. The redhead had grown too, but straight up like a beanpole. Still frustratingly flat-chested, she felt like she was made of elbows and knees. Long legs were useful for running and reaching things, but they were too skinny and spindly for most boys to notice them in the way Amy wanted them too. Despite those reservations, she'd had a couple of boyfriends- the current one was Jean-Paul. He played on the football team and was in her Biology class. Amy liked him quite a bit, and he was expected to last a couple of months or so before Amy got bored of him. Compared to Mels though, two months was a lifetime. While Amy liked being paid attention to by boys, Mels tore through them like an express train, leaving them gaping along in her wake. At parties she'd nag Amy to bet her how many boys could snog in one night.

"I don't know, two?" Amy had shrugged, as they got ready for Shona's party one Friday evening.

"Easy,"

"Go on then," said Amy, fluttering her fingers, "Bet me,"

"How much?"

"A pound,"

"God, you're so Scottish," Mels answered with an eye-roll. She proceeded to kiss three boys and a girl that night, getting to second base with one of the boys, Will.

"Cough up, Pond," Mels had grinned victoriously on the way home.

Aside from partying, Mels and Amy could usually be found gossiping in Amy's bedroom, watching  _Buffy_  or  _24,_  calling each other for homework advice (well, it was usually Amy who rang Mels, but Mels always enjoyed an opportunity to show off, so she didn't mind). Amy had been recruited by the school netball team, while Mels, always having to do something unusual, was part of Leicester Archery Club. Amy had seen her at competitions a couple of times and had to admit she was an amazing shot. Well, that didn't come as a surprise seeing as Mels seemed to be good at everything.

"Doesn't it annoy you," Rebecca Dappers, who sat next to Amy in Geography, sighed one Friday when Mels was given back a paper marked A, "You best mate being so good at everything?"

"Nah," Amy lied, "That'd be stupid; we're not in Year One". Of course she was jealous. Amy had to choose between being cheeky and troublesome, or being studious and hardworking. It was difficult to decide if attention was more important than good grades. Mels got lots of both, never having to choose. How could Amy  _not_ be angry about it?

There was a tap on her back. Amy frowned and turned around. Jack Defries, who sat at the desk behind Amy and Rebecca, was holding a note out. Amy leaned over to take it, unfolded the paper and read.

_Amy, please may I borrow your blue highlighter pen? I need to colour in Europe. Thank you. Rory_

Amy glanced to the desk two over from Jack, where Rory was sitting, looking hopefully at her. Oh Rory. Puberty wasn't being kind to him. He was still short and weedy, but spattered with spots and prone to voice-cracks. Amy still liked him- she could never dislike Rory- but they didn't hang out much nowadays. Amy spent lunchtimes at netball practise, or snogging Jean-Paul behind the bike sheds, or gossiping and causing trouble with Mels, or flirting with the football boys. Rory could usually be found at Science Club, playing Yu-Gi-Oh with his friends, or messing around with guitars in the Music Department. He had a nice group of mates, and they usually kept their heads down enough to avoid the bullies. Amy and Rory had started off secondary school as good friends, but in the last few months they'd drifted apart. They'd still chat outside classrooms and between lessons, often sit beside each other on the bus home, and of course they saw each other around the village, but they didn't go out of their way to socialise outside of school. Sometimes Amy wanted to bowl down to the shops with Rory or go to the cinema- but, well, they were different, Amy had an image to protect, and that was that.

Amy took her blue highlighter out of her pencil case, passed it back to Jack, who passed it to Francesca who passed it to Cody, who passed it to Rory. Amy grinned at him, and Rory smiled back.

* * *

That was the day of Shona's party and, back in the taxi, Amy was fumbling in her purse for the money she owed Mels.

"For God's sake, I can't find any cash-"

"You are  _such_ a tight-arse," Mels scoffed, "I suppose that means I'm forking out for the cab,"

"I'll pay you back on Monday," Amy protested, "Promise,"

"Pay me back on Monday, my arse," Mels grumbled, "You're the worst. Dare you to suck off the driver so we don't have to pay," she suggested in a stage-whisper.

"Ew! No!"

"Double-dare double dare,"

"No way. That's disgusting-"

"So?"

"-illegal-"

"So?"

"-and I've got a boyfriend,"

"So?"

"I hate you,"

"No you don't,"

"You're such a mess," Amy giggled.

"I'm your mess. Your mess-friend, Amy, geddit?" Mels slurred. She leaned over and hugged her, planted a sloppy kiss on Amy's cheek.

Last week in Physics they'd looked at lightening, and Amy felt as though she'd been hit by an intracloud discharge. Suddenly every inch of her skin was prickling, her lungs were tight and some other liquid-y feeling was sloshing around in her stomach with the vodka-Coke from the party. But the feeling wasn't the sick-from-alcohol feeling Amy was all too familiar with. It wasn't physical like that. It was stronger, however, than the I-love-my-friends-so-much feeling that booze could bring. These thoughts flashed through Amy's mind, stumbling onto –  _is this being in love?_ Amy hadn't been in love. Was this it? No. It couldn't be.  _I'm not in love with Mels,_ Amy told herself sharply,  _no way. She's my best mate._ Mels liked girls as well as boys- she'd dropped this casually into conversation a couple of years ago. Mels and Amy didn't know many girls who liked girls, so Mels had a limited field of potential kissing partners. This was something she often complained about this during the gossip sessions in Amy's bedroom.

"Everyone's just so narrow-minded, right Amy? Snog boys, snog girls, do what you want. Who even cares what box you're putting yourself in,"

"Wait 'til university," Amy had suggested, "There'll be loads of gay girls there,"

"See,  _you're_  doing it. Gay, straight, bi- like, what does it even matter,"

"Alright, they'll be loads of  _people_  you can snog at uni- that better?"

"Yeah. Well, it  _sounds_ better, it doesn't make it better. I just want  _a girl,_ you know? I don't want to wait around,"

"What about that Eliza girl you disappeared with at Fred's party?"

Mels smirked, "Yeah, she was cool. She was fun,"

"Well, we'll just have to start finding more Elizas," Amy had shrugged.

Back in the cab, Amy's brain was whirring. The sensation in her body was nice but it wasn't, it buzzed and hurt and it was warm.  _It isn't love, this can't be what being in love feels like,_ Amy thought frantically _._ She didn't know how, but she knew that it wasn't. Truth be told, she  _had_ had this feeling before...not  _every_  time Mels touched her, not even sometimes...but occasionally. It wasn't only touch either, it could happen at random moments- Amy would get this sensation around Mels. She'd gotten good at pushing it away but now, dizzy with alcohol and stuck in the back of the cab, it couldn't be ignored.

Mels leaned away, grinning happily and swaying. Amy exhaled deeply with relief. Mels shot her a funny look but didn't say anything. Amy looked out of the window and tried to look normal.

"Amy..." Mels said after a while.

"Yeah?"

"Can I stay at yours tonight? I've broken curfew". Mels broke her curfew so often that Amy wondered why it was still in place, "And I'm  _way_  too pissed to climb the drainpipe," she added, slurring for what Amy could tell was dramatic effect.

Amy smirked and made a big show of huffing and rolling her eyes. She paused theatrically then relented, "Go on then,"

"You're the best," Mels beamed. Amy was hit with a sudden panic than Mels was going to hug her again, so she shrugged, "I know," and pretended to fumble through her bag.

The cab pulled up outside Amy's house. Mels paid the driver (Amy breathed another sigh of relief that she didn't mention anything about blowjobs) and they staggered out together, up to Amy's porch where, snickering and shushing each other, Amy unlocked the door.

"I'm hungry," Mels announced loudly, "What've you got in the kitchen?"

"It's one in the morning. You don't need to eat  _now,"_ Amy hissed, propelling her upstairs. Mels groaned but didn't argue. They crept up to the first floor and into Amy's bedroom. The walls were the dark blue colour they'd been for years, although they were barely visible under the posters of Busted, Gareth Gates, Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé. Mels dumped her handbag on the floor, collapsed onto Amy's bed and crashed out.

"Mels?" Amy whispered, shaking her, but Mels was already asleep. Amy rolled her eyes fondly, unstrapped the red plasticky heels from Mels' feet, and threw a blanket over her. Amy changed into her pyjamas, wiped her make-up off, climbed in next to Mels and pulled the duvet up over them both. And, as she lay there beside her best mate, there it was again, that prickle on Amy's skin, that lurch in her stomach. It was uncomfortable, but it didn't feel so scary now that Mels wasn't awake.  _I don't know what this is,_ Amy swallowed, _but it feels good. It feels safe._

Amy was tired, and she had to get up early tomorrow for netball practise. She should have gone to sleep. But instead she stayed awake, looking at the rise and fall of Melody's chest, listening to her steady breathing, watching the way her face moved and flickered as she dreamed. Amy lay and watched her, silently, until the sun came up.


	3. 2009

Mels either answered her mobile straight away, or let it ring for ages. This time, she answered straight away.

"Amy. What's up?" she chirped.

"We got engaged," Amy blurted.

"What? Oh my God. Yes! You said yes! Oh my God. Well. Finally. Congratulations!"

"I can't believe it," Amy breathed, "We'd gone out to buy, umm, Tic Tacs of all things, and we went for a wander on the way home, that nice place by the beck we took you to that time. So we're walking, chatting about nothing, y'know, and Rory says 'Um, I've got something to ask you'. And I was like, 'Yeah?' and he mumbled for about four hours and fumbled in his pocket, and then he sort of knelt so he was hovering and he...asked,"

"And you said?"

"Well, thought I was gonna cry and you know how if I cry he cries, so I was like c'mon Amy keep it together. And Rory's going 'Ummm' and I said 'No, no, I mean yes-yes of course and he was like 'Which one you said both?' and I said 'Yes. Yes is my final answer' and he said- oh my God, Mels, guess what he said- 'Are you sure?'. I was like 'Yes I'm sure, I want to marry you, you moron'. And he said 'Oh, that's good, then'. And then we went home to catch up on Battlestar Galactica,"

"'Are you sure?'. That's the most Rory thing I've ever heard. What a dweeb your future husband is,"

"Future husband? Isn't that insane. I'm going to marry Rory Williams". Amy couldn't help but giggle at the thought.

"Nah. You've always been going to marry each other. Everybody knew it, even when you two refused to admit it. Have you set a date?"

"It only happened yesterday! I don't know, May?" Amy shrugged, then had a thought. "Hang on. Mels?"

"Hmm,"

"You said, 'You said yes'".

"So? You did say yes,"

"But you've only have said that if- Mels, did you know?"

"Did I know you and Rory amori were going to get married? Only since ever," Mels replied theatrically.

"No, I mean, did he tell you? Did Rory tell you he was proposing?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Mels said innocently, and Amy could hear the smirk.

"He did! What did he say? What did you say?"

"Oh, he was being so sweet about it all, bumbling about how much he loves you and how you've been off and on but he thinks it's forever this time and should he do it, are you both too young, were you going to say yes, what if his Auntie Irene can't find the right hat to wear, bla bla,"

"What did you say?"

"I told him that you're as crazy for him as he is for you, you're just better at hiding it. I told him that if he thinks this is it then he isn't too young. He thought perhaps you should both should wait, but I said no. And I told him that under no circumstances should I be expected to make a speech at the reception,"

"But you're my maid of honour. Duh,"

"Well. We'll see," said Mels vaguely, "By the way, could you open your window?"

"What? Wh-"

The question died in Amy's mouth as she glanced over to the window to see Mels herself, clinging to the windowframe. Amy's hand dropped the phone and her mouth dropped open into an O shape.

"What are you doing there? What are you doing here?"

Mels stuffed her phone into her pocket and called through the glass, "Never mind, can you just let me in,"

Amy huffed, grinned and opened the window. "What are you on? Aren't you supposed to be at university?"

Coming as a surprise to nobody, Mels had passed all her A Levels with flying colours and was currently in Glasgow studying History (there'd been talk of Oxford and Cambridge, but Mels had dismissed the idea, scoffing that they were "full of nerdy posh types". Glasgow, with its busy town centre, party nights and cool art galleries, was much more her scene). Rory had gone straight into nurse training from school, and would be fully qualified in a few months. Amy had also stayed in Leadworth, taking up various jobs including shop worker, netball coach, kiss-o-gram (that one had initially been a dare from Mels but Amy found that she actually rather enjoyed it. She'd given it up when she got back together with Rory, although the policewoman costume was still in her wardrobe), plumber's assistant and occasional secretary to the editor of the local paper. Often she felt jealous of Rory and Mels, who seemed to be moving forward with their lives; getting qualifications and planning careers. It wasn't that Amy wasn't bright; she just wasn't good at making decisions. She was fairly good at quite a few things, but there wasn't one area in which she shone. That was what you needed to get into university wasn't it, one subject you excelled in and could be bothered to study for three years? (Well, actually Mels excelled in most subjects, but Mels was a special case). Amy had hoped that knocking around in Leadworth trying things out would provide her with some career ideas, but nothing had turned up yet.

"Oh and hello to you too, best friend," Mels said sarcastically, clambering through the window, "Nice to see you,"

"Don't you have exams coming up?"

"God, always on my case. I'm revising, I promise. But more important than revision is seeing my two favourite humans who are going to be married," Mels shrieked, then added hurriedly, "By the way I'm gonna have to stay at yours tonight. And maybe borrow twenty quid for the train back,"

"You are the limit," Amy reprimanded, folding her arms, "Well. I'm not gonna hug first,"

"Hmph, nor am I," Mels shot back. She shoved her hands in her pockets and glanced around the room, looking anywhere but Amy. After a few awkward moments, they both burst into laughter and hugged, hard. And that now familiar but still uncomfortable, powerful feeling flickered inside Amelia's body. A lurch in her heart and stomach, making her skin tingle. She'd felt a similar feeling with Rory sometimes- cuddled on the sofa watching TV, looking into his eyes during sex, having a conversation where they were exactly on the same wavelength. It made her chest heavy and her stomach feel like mush. That, she knew now, was what being in love was like. This feeling was in the same ballpark, but significantly different.

Mels peeled herself away from Amy. "You alright?"

Amy brushed the tears out of her eyes. "Yeah. Course. Just been an emotional couple of days". Her voice was raspy.

"I'm sure," Mels nodded, then said bracingly, "Dude, you're getting married. Oh, so much to do- dress, hair, food. Shoes. We're gonna need a whole week looking at shoes-"

"Mels," Amy blurted, surprising herself, "Mels did you, err, feel something?"

"What?"

"When we..." and now Amy's brain had caught up with her mouth, she knew what the words she wanted to say were but they sounded ridiculous, "When we touch, sometimes I get this...feeling. I don't know what it is, it's nice but it's... scary. I've had it since I was little and I don't know what it is or what it means. Do you...do you get that too?". There was her confession, out there in the open. Amy wasn't sure when in the last ten seconds she'd decided to say it, but there was no taking it back now. Amy had never felt more stupid or more embarrassed in her life. It didn't help that Mels looked her in the eye for a long time, unspeaking.

"...that wasn't me trying to hit on you, by the way". This was true but Amy wasn't sure whether to say it seriously or like a joke. It came out a horrible mixture of both. "It's like being in love but it isn't the same thing, I know it isn't the same, but I can't describe...". Mels was still looking intently at Amy, and Amy wasn't sure if she should keep talking, or shut up sharpish. Unhelpfully, her mouth took over, attempting to describe what she'd just admitted was indescribable, "It's like fuzzy and...like, like a stomach ache or something, and it's on my skin and my...heart". Amy grimaced at herself.

Slowly, quietly, Mels spoke. "I understand".

Amy bit her lip to stop herself gasping. She understood? "Do you get it too? Or do I sound crazy?

"Amy," said Mels. She spoke in a serious, calm tone which Amy had rare heard her use. Her eyes were locked on Amy's, her expression unreadable, "I understand". There was a beat. A moment of acknowledgement, perhaps acceptance, although acceptance of what Amelia wasn't sure. The feeling prickled inside her again. Amy closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again.

Then, Mels grinned wolfishly, grabbed Amy's phone from the bed, unlocked it, and announced, "Now, let's call your fella and so I can celebrate with both of you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading. This story's a bit different to my usual fics and I enjoyed writing it, so I'd love it if you dropped me a review to let me know what you thought. Thanks a lot, have a great day.


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